Rare cosmic encounter: Europe-China probe uncovers unique star duo
The Europe-China Einstein Probe has detected an unusual X-ray burst originating from a rare pair of stars. This discovery could shed new light on the evolution of such systems.
The Einstein Probe, a joint project of Europe and China, recorded an X-ray burst from an unusual star system. One of the stars is ten times larger than the Sun, and the other is a white dwarf with similar dimensions to our star. This is the first such discovery in history.
An unusual star system
The discovery occurred in May of the previous year, when the Einstein Probe, using the Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT), noticed a flash of X-ray radiation from the Small Magellanic Cloud. Initially, it was thought to be a known type of binary system, but further analysis revealed it was a rare pair: a massive Be-type star and a white dwarf.
A new look at star evolution
Scientists explain that the strong gravity of the white dwarf pulls matter from the larger star, leading to a nuclear explosion. This discovery provides new information on a rarely observed phase of star evolution. As Ashley Chrimes from ESA emphasizes, such research is possible because of the Einstein Probe, which is uniquely capable of detecting low-energy X-ray radiation with such sensitivity.
